Clothes-guard for banjos and the like



A. D. GROVER.

CLOTHES GUARD FOR BANJOS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I8, I9I8. 1 ,370,308, Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

l VENTDR zfilberi l7. Grover.

M tzi A. D. GROVER.

CLOTHES GUARD FOR BANJOS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- I8, I9I8.

I Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- ulan|nalnlvlla may.

, UNITED, STATES, PATENT OFFICE.

ALIBERT D. GROVER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CLOTHES-GUARD FOR BANJOS AND THE LIKE.

To allwkom it may concern: 1 f I Be it known that I, ALBERT D. GRovER, a citizen ofthe United States, and a resident ofNew York, in .the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful v Improvements in Clothes-Guards for Banjos and the like, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a clothes guard for banjos and similar musical instruments to protect the clothes of the player from wear or injury due to con tact with the metal parts of the instrument. As those skilled inthe art know, when a banjo is held in playing position,'a portion ofthe rim rests above the knee of the player and some of the metal bracket screws contact with the clothes of the player; Also, when the instrument-i5 being played, the players'coat sleeve rubs over a section of the rim, coming in constant frictional contact with the bracket screws in that section of the rim. The result of all that is, that the players clothes soon become worn or injured in those parts that contact with the bracket screws ofthe instrument. This is naturally a source of expense to the banjo player and has led to a great deal of annoyance, especially among lady banjo players,

whoseclothes, being ofdelicate fabric, are very easily torn by the'projecting parts of the. bracket screwssurrounding the rim of the banjo or other instrument. k j

I It is the purpose of my invention to provide means forfovercoming the above difiiculties by properly protecting the clothes of the player.

In its preferred form, my new clothes guard consists of a strip or pad of suitable flexible materia1,+as, for instance, a textile fabric,of the proper length and width, provided at its ends with suitable fastening means, such as a pair of hooks which readily hook over the bracket wires. While various kinds of materials may be used, personally I preferto use a pad of woven webbing which is sufficiently elastic to remain taut when hooked over the bracket wires, andwhich, furthermore, has a roughened surface'that prevents the banjo from slipping on-the knee while bein played.

In the accompanying rawings which form part of the specification, I have illustrated several embodiments of my invention in the best forms at present known to me. In these drawings- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

Application filed February 18, 1918. Serial No. 217,778.

guard, this guard being in position to protect the clothes at the knee of the player;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the clothes guard in position to protect the coat sleeve of the player;

Fig. 3 is an elevational View of my new clothes guard;

Fig. 4 is a cross section approximately on line l4 of Fig. 3, looking downwardly;

Fig. 5 shows in elevation a modification of the strip or pad of my new clothes guard, the main or central portion of the pad being of non-elastic material, while the ends are of elastic material;

Fig. 6 is a view in cross-section approximately on line 66 of Fig. 5; I

Fig. -7 shows in elevation a still further tic material and a backing of non-elastic material;

Fig. 8 is a cross-section approximately on line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is an elevational view of a pad of non-elastic material attached to a pair of hooks by means of elastic members, such as springs; and

Fig. 10 is a cross-section approximately on line 10-10 of Fig. 9. In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, 1 is the rim of the banjo, 2 the parchment head, 3 the flesh hoop over which hook the adjustable brackets 4 for holding the head in place on the rim. The foregoing is the usual construction of instruments of this class, and will be well understood by those skilled in the art.

I Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the clothes guard of my invention as there illustrated, comprises a strip or pad of flexible material indicated as a whole by A, to theends of which are attached a pair of hooks indicated as a whole by B. The material A,

cided advantage. The woven webbing above referred to, not only has such a roughened, non-slipping surface, but also has the advantage that it does not make the clothes shiny.

The hooks B (in Figs. l-S) are shown as being provided with a slit 8 through which the strip or pad A passes. The hooks B are also formed with a hook portion 9 by means of which t iey hook over the bracket wires, which are indicated at 10 in Figs. 8 8. By these bracket wires 10 I mean to indicate the suitable bracket wires over which the clothes guard is to be hooked when put in place on the instrument. In Fig. l I have shown the clothes guard as be ing attached to the brackets or bracket wires (4 and Z). In 2 the clothes guard is shown as being attached to the brackets indicated by and (Z.

It will be observed that the strip A c2;- tends for approximately half of its width beyond the hook portions 9 of the hooks B. In other words, the hook portions 9 are off-set with respect to the pad A. Under these conditions, the pull of the strip or pad A would tend to twist or rock the hook portions 9 at their ends 9 away from the bracket wires, as indicated by the arrows at" in Fig. 3. In order to prevent this rocking or twisting movement of the hooks, I provide a tongue 11 which is preferably struck up from the metal of the hooks B, and which extends at its free end 12 into close proximity to the bracket wire to which the hook is attached. Fig. 4, the tongue 11 holds the hooks B in proper position on the bracket screws, so that the pad or strip it presents a taut unwrinkled surface.

When my improved clothes guard is to be used for protecting the players clothes at the knee, it is attached to the rim of the banjo approximately in the position shown in Fig. 1. It will be seen that in this position of the clothes guard, the strip or pad A is approximately flush with the rear or inner edge 13 of the banjo rim. In this position, the pad or strip A is most effective in guarding the clothes of the player when the banjo is held in the usual playing position.

When my new clothes guard is used to protect the sleeve of the player, it is attached in position approximately as shown in Fig. 2. It will be observed that in this position, the clothes guard is reversed, as compared to the position shown in Fig. 1. That is to say, in Fig. 2, the strip A is approximately flush with, or extends a trifle over, the front or outer edge l t of the rim. In this way, the strip A eflectively guards the coat sleeve of the player against contact with the metal of the bracket screws.

This reversibility of my new clothes guard In this way, as is evident from is a feature of considerable advantage, for it enables one and the same structure of guard to be attached to the banjo in two diflerent posit-ions, thereby obviating the necessity of having one kind of guard for the knee of the player and another kind for the sleeve.

Instead of having the strip or pad A made entirely of suitable elastic or stretchable material, such as the woven webbing previously mentioned, I may construct a pad with its main portion of non-elastic material and provide it with means for effecting an elastic connection between the hooks and the non-elastic portion. There are many ways in which this idea may be carried out, and in Figs. 5 to 10, I have shown a few ways as examples.

In Figs. 5 and 6 the strip or pad consists of a section A of non-elastic material, to which are attached end sections a of elastic material. The sections A and a are connected together in any suitable manner,-as for instance, by sewing, as indicated by the dotted lines 15. The ends of the elastic sections (1, are passed through the slits or openings 8 in the hooks B and then fastened to the body of the sections a in any suitable way, as by sewing, as indicated by the dotted lines 16. In this construction of pad or guard, the elastic end sections a hold the entire pad taut when put in place over the rim of the instrument.

In the form of pad shown in Fig. 7 and 8, I use a strip of elastic material A having a backing of cheaper non-elastic material a these two sections being suitably connected together, as by sewing or otherwise. The elastic section A is looped through the slits 8 of the books 13, the ends of this section being indicated at 17. This form of pad operates in practically the same way as the pads in Figs. 3 and 5. Since the hooks B engage only the elastic section A there is sufficient elasticity in this form of structure to cause the pad to be held taut over the rim.

In the modification illustrated in Figs. 9

.and 10, the pad consists of a non-elastic section A which has an elastic connection with the hooks B by suitable elastic means, such as the coil springs 18. The springs 18 are secured at one end to the hooks B and at their other end to a plate 19 of suitable stiff material,-such as metal,which is connected to the ends of the non-elastic pad A in any suitable way, as by means of the eyelets 20 or otherwise. The springs 18 cause the non-elastic pad A to be held taut when the device is hooked over the rim of the banjo.

When in certain of the appended claims I efer to the strip or pad of my new clothes guard as being elastic, I would have it clearly understood that I do not mean that the entire pad shall be of an elastic material,

or that even a portion of the pad itself must be of elastic material, but I mean broadly,

that there shall be an'elastic connection between the fastening members by means of which the guard is attached in place on the rim of the instrument. In other words the connection between the two fastening members by means of which the device is attached to the instrument, is sufficiently yielding or stretching to permit the device as a whole to be attached to the instrument and to allow the clothes-protecting pad to be held taut and firmly over the bracket screws which it covers. 7 I

Although I have herein shown and de scribed several specific forms of construction, I would have it understood that I have done so merely for the sake of illustration, and not by way of limitation of my invention. As far as I am aware, I am the first to'provide a clothes guard for banjos and like instruments, in which a pad of suit able flexible material, such as fabric, is held taut part way around the rim. It is apparent from the foregoing description that my new clothes guard issimple in construction,

readily attached to and removed from the banjo, and may be left on the banjo as a permanent partthereof, without substantially adding to the weight or size of the instrument. In its broader aspects, the idea of my invention may obviously be carried out in other ways than those set forth.

Having thus described my invention,

what I claim as new and desire to secure l by Letters Patentofthe United States, is:

1. A clothes guard for banjos'or the like,

comprising a pair of fastening members members, said connection including a pad of suitable material adapted to protect the clothes of the player, said hook portions be ing oil-set with respect to said pad, and means on said members to prevent turning or twisting of said members on the bracket wires when the clothes guard is attached to the instrument.

3. A clothes guard for banjos or the like, comprising a pair of fastening members provided with hook portions adapted to be hooked over the bracket wires of the instrument, an elastic connection between said members, said connection including a pad of suitable material adapted to protect the clothes of the player, said hook portions being off-set with respect to said pad, and an integral tongue on each of said members to prevent turning or twisting of said members on the bracket wires when the clothes guard is attached to the instrument.

4. A clothes guard for banjos or the like, comprising a pair of metallic members having each a slit and a hook portion substantially parallel with said slit but oil-set with respect to said slit, said hook portions being adapted to be hooked over the bracket wires of the instrument, and an elastic connection between the slits of said members, said connection including a pad of suitable material adapted to protect the clothes of the player.

5. A banjo, or the like, provided on a section of its rim with a pad of elastic fabric, said pad being at its ends provided with means which engage a pair of bracketwires and hold said pad in taut position, said means being readily attachable to and detachable. from the bracket wires. I

6. A banjo, or the like, provided with clothes guard on a portion of its rim, said clothes guard consisting of a pad of elastic fabric with a roughened surface, and means for attaching said pad at its ends to a pair of bracket Wires, so that said pad of fabric is held taut inprotecting position part way around the rim of the instrument.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 16th day of February, 1918.

ALBERT 1) GROVER. 

